It's all the things, half the time, rather than half the things all the time

Expiration Dates

Lately I’ve been checking expiration dates on food that’s been around for awhile. If I don’t remember buying it. it means it’s been in the house for at least 15 months, and it’s probably nearing that arbitrary date, and sometimes, time of day where it will go from being “best” to an inedible can of glop, in a matter of hours, or minutes.

Today I noticed that my wine box has an expiration date.
Now, I’m not much of a wine connoisseur, as you can probably tell by my use of the term, “wine box”, but I had thought that keeping the wine in a controlled atmosphere for a period of time actually benefited the beverage. Now, I have yet to find one of those fancy refrigerator looking “wine cellars” with the convenient rack to fit 24 of your favorite vintage boxes, but I didn’t think wine would actually come with an expiration date.

I’m tempted to buy one of these less than expensive cardboard kegs of tap like dispensing blended red table wine, and just keep it until the day after it expires and see if the quality has really changed from the similar one I’d purchase fresh for the experiment. I’m guessing if you care enough about the difference in flavor, and hints of vanilla and cherry, you’re probably drinking something out of glass, maybe even going past the screw top and honing your cork removal skills.

There are also expiration dates on, if you haven’t noticed, water bottles, dried pasta, and spam. Now, I don’t quite understand how water sealed in a bottle can go bad, and dried pasta, if not exposed to moisture should last well beyond my lifetime. But Spam??? Really, can you tell if it’s gone off?

Steven Wright put it best….

“I know when I’m going to die… my birth certificate came with an expiration date”